10 Screams
by TheChasm
Summary: "The scream rips through the air around them, heart-wrenching and soul-scarring." Ten screams, and what went with them.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.**

**A/N: This has been a long time in the running, until yesterday when I told myself to just sit down and finish it already. I hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

**10 Screams**

**1.** "Come on, Gin-kins!" Fred calls. The wind rustles through his hair and his brown eyes are bright with exhilaration as he clings to the branch of the tall tree they are climbing. Beside him, Ron scrambles up to rest on the same branch, flushed with excitement and exertion.

George and Ginny are lower down the tree, perched beside a hole that George is fairly certain an owl resides in. Ginny shakes her head violently, tightening her hold.

"Go on, Gin," George says in his best encouraging voice. "You want to get up to Fred and Ronnie, don't you?"

He doesn't know it, but he is the only brother who is ever able to persuade her to do something she does not want to do. Slowly, she releases the branch and reaches for the one above her. It twitches and she gasps.

"I'm right behind you," George tells her, scrambling up. "Come on."

Inch by inch, they make their way up the tree, up to where Fred and Ron are waiting. George glances down to where he can just see The Burrow's kitchen window, and hopes that their mother cannot see what they are doing.

His head jerks up as Fred give a shout of horror. In slow motion, he sees Ginny stretch for a branch that is far too high for her six-year-old arms to reach. She loses her balance, sways, and _falls –_ out of the tree, away from George, down to the ground which suddenly seems to be very far away. Her red hair whips in the wind as her mouth opens and she screams desperately.

They could run for a grown-up but they would be too late, so George clings to the branch and sits frozen. He isn't sure quite what happens, but then suddenly he is one with the tree and the branch that lunges to grab his sister feels like an extension of his arms. It curls in around her sobbing form, holding her until George has reached her.

Later, the adults will murmur to each other about quick thinking and an impressive display of accidental magic. For now, though, he simply cradles his little sister and promises himself that he will not let her fall again.

* * *

**2. **Gabrielle blinks when they break the surface of the water. Yesterday, Dumbledore told her that she would stay asleep until Fleur brought her up to the air again – and yet it is not her sister holding her but the young Hogwarts champion, Harry Potter. The red-headed boy is also there; he's speaking to Potter in rapid English, but she gathers that he's not impressed at Gabrielle's presence.

She's too shocked to do anything as the two boys swim to the edge of the lake, and her heart has started to pound in fear. Why didn't Fleur come to collect her? What has happened? Where is her sister?

Her fears are increasing by the second. What if something happened to Fleur, and that's why she couldn't come? What if she's _dead_ and it's all Gabrielle's fault for agreeing to this? She strains her eyes, but they're still adjusting to the light and she cannot see her sister anywhere.

Then they have reached the lakeshore and various people are surrounding them, wrapping Gabrielle in a blanket and leading her away. She opens her mouth to ask them what has happened to her sister when she hears a shriek and a high-pitched voice crying, "_Gabrielle! Gabrielle!"_

And then Fleur is there, sobbing with relief and flinging her arms around Gabrielle. Gabrielle leans into the embrace, closes her eyes and allows her big sister to wash her fears away.

* * *

**3.** James is running faster than he ever has before; his heart is thumping in his throat and he's bent double as he hurries through the tunnel leading to the Whomping Willow. He's barely even halfway there when he hears the scream.

"NO! NO, PLEASE! GET BACK!"

James doubles his speed at the raw terror in Remus's voice. He wants to shout out – to tell Snape to get back, to reassure Remus that he's coming – anything, really, but he has to save his breath.

He's panting and gasping, but he can still hear Snape's mocking, cruel voice. He imagines Remus curled up on the old rickety chair he sits in before the transformation, ill and shaking and terrified, as Snape stands there and laughs at him. Rage wells up and lends speed to his footsteps. No matter how much Snape deserves it, James will not let Remus kill anyone tonight.

But the passageway is so _long_…

Then James hears another scream, one that makes his blood run cold. He can see it, now: Remus throwing his head back and opening his mouth as the transformation begins, as his bones snap and Snape stands there watching all the while.

The scream begins to mutate, turning into a wolf's howl as James flies up the tunnel. He almost runs into Snape, who is standing stock-still near the trapdoor. He grabs the other boy roughly, shoves him in front of himself and motions for him to run. The wolf cannot fit down the tunnel, but James is not going to take any chances. He stumbles after Snape, shuddering as he imagines how bad this transformation will be. The wolf is agitated, angry at the humans' escape, lonely without its Animagus companions. With nothing to distract it, it will turn once again upon its own flesh, biting its limbs and raking its claws along its flanks.

An image flashes into James's mind of Remus's broken, bleeding, _dying_ body as the red sun rises, and he has to stop to be violently sick on the floor of the passageway. He's not sure who he hates more right now – Sirius for telling Snape how to get past the Willow, Snape for being fool enough to come, himself for not reaching Snape in time (_he knows, he knows, he knows that Remus is a werewolf_) or perhaps Fenrir Greyback for biting Remus in the first place.

Then he is crawling out of the passageway and Snape has frozen the Willow again so that the two of them can drag themselves to safety. The Slytherin drops to his knees on the grass, wrapping his arms around himself and shuddering. James buries his face in his hands and sobs as all the terror of the past half hour suddenly sinks in. He just saved a life. He has saved a life, but he can't save two of them and Remus will savage himself horribly tonight; and Sirius is a traitor and Snape _knows_ and James can tell instinctively that the world has shifted on its axis and he will not be the same again.

He can still hear the echo of Remus's screams.

* * *

**4. **Ted can tell that something is off as soon as the owl flies in through the window and lands in front of Andromeda. It is not her family's haughty, dark-grey creature, with a letter tied to its leg with a black silk ribbon. Rather, it is one of the owls he recognises from Hogwarts, a tawny bird with amber eyes. When she takes the letter off its leg and feeds it an Owl Treat, it nips her ear playfully before flying off again.

Andromeda's eyebrows shoot up when she glances at the front of the letter. It is devoid of the Black family crest that Narcissa usually stamps her letters from school with. Ted frowns, wondering who could be writing to his wife, and watches as she opens the letter. It's a long one, but she's only read a little of it before she suddenly lets out a shriek.

"Ted! _Ted!"_

"What is it?" he asks, feeling a flash of panic.

Andromeda laughs and flings herself into his arms. "The letter's from Sirius – and his mother's just written to him. Do you know what she said, Ted?"

He shakes his head, calming down once he sees the flush of joy on her cheeks. She claps her hands together like a small child and says excitedly, "I've been _disowned!_ Aunt Walburga's blasted me off the tree for marrying you! I'm _free_, Ted, _free!"_

He laughs and kisses her. Maybe he can tell that there's a touch of hysteria to her cheerfulness and her eyes are sparkling with something other than happiness, but who is he to say anything?

* * *

**5. **There are lights going flash-flash and Sirius is reminded, stupidly, of those Muggle toys that glow different colours in the darkness. He wishes his brain wouldn't disengage at crucial moments.

As if to prove his point, he hears James yell "_Stupefy!"_ and the next moment his best friend slaps him across the face. "Padfoot, what are you doing? That guy had his wand pointed in your face and you were just staring off into space!" He shakes Sirius roughly. "You have to _concentrate_!"

Sirius nods. "I know. It's just…" He waves his hand at the carnage all around them, the first battle they have ever been in, and James nods in understanding and sighs before running off to help Lily.

Sirius drops behind the ruins of what he thinks was a large dining table and takes a moment to check for everyone he cares about. James and Lily are standing side-by-side, fending off four Death Eaters at once. A little way behind them, Peter lies Stunned on the ground. Remus stands above him, duelling fiercely. Sirius lets out a little breath of relief and jumps out, ready to take whatever the Death Eaters throw at him.

He's in the middle of duelling a small, slight figure who seems younger than Sirius and as slender and fragile as Remus when suddenly a well-placed curse throws the Death Eater's hood back.

For a moment they both freeze and grey eyes meet grey. Then Sirius lowers his wand and Regulus does the same; distantly, Sirius notices that he's shaking.

"What – what are you doing here?" he manages, though his tongue feels stiff and heavy in his mouth and _oh Merlin, he and his brother stand on the opposing sides of this war._

Regulus only shakes his head.

Then suddenly James is there again, with his wand outstretched and pointed at Sirius's brother. He's yelling something that Sirius pays no attention to as he grabs his best friend's wand arm and shoves it down, away from Regulus. James's mouth becomes a round 'o' and his eyes widen in understanding.

The three of them are frozen in time, for a moment, distanced from the skirmish and the fact that they are supposed to be killing each other. Then Regulus screams, deafeningly loud, and lunges forward towards Sirius and James. He knocks them to the ground, and Sirius feels sick to his stomach as he sees the jet of green light pass over his head. He stands up and pulls James to his feet, and they watch as Regulus stands up too.

James gives Sirius a sympathetic look and slinks away, leaving the two brothers alone.

"You shouldn't have done that," Sirius says, looking back to try to identify the Death Eater who cast the spell. It's no use – they've vanished in the throng of people.

Regulus glances at Sirius's Phoenix t-shirt and then at his own Dark Mark, clearly visible as the sleeve of his robes has slid back. "Yeah, well," he says. "I'm not quite that far in yet. If I can save a life, I will."

"Even if it's the life of the enemy?" Sirius asks, tilting his head to one side and looking at his brother appraisingly.

"Even if," Regulus confirms. He looks for a moment like he wants to say something more, but then he simply raises his hand once and walks away. It's the same thing Sirius did that night millions of years ago when he left Grimmauld Place forever.

He stares after his brother and decides that James is wrong. Every now and then, it's acceptable to let yourself get distracted in the midst of battle.

* * *

**6.** Neither James nor Albus pay the owl much attention when Lily goes to let it in from the window. James is bent over a piece of parchment, scribbling away and muttering to himself; Albus, meanwhile, is reading through a report his boss has sent him and making notes in the margins. Lily has left her N.E.W.T. DADA notes spread out on the table – she stands in the middle of the room, staring at the letter in her hand.

Ten minutes later, Albus has finished his report and glances up to see his sister still standing and staring at the letter. "You going to open that sometime this year, Lils?" he asks.

As if nudged into action by the comment, Lily slides her finger under the slit of the envelope and ever-so-slowly pulls out her letter. The envelope flutters to the ground, and for a moment Albus catches sight of a crest he vaguely recognises before it lands face-down on the floor. He sets down his work and watches with interest as his sister unfolds the parchment and lets her eyes flit across the paper.

It seems an age later, though in reality it's only a few seconds, that Lily gives a high-pitched shriek and drops the letter. Her eyes are blazing.

James yelps and drops his scribblings, wand out in an instant. "What? What's happening? Lily?"

He doesn't manage to say anything else, because Lily has flung herself at him so that her red hair flutters into his eyes and mouth. He makes a muffled sound and pushes her gently away. "Lils, what happened?"

Cheeks flushed, she turns to give Albus a brilliant smile. "I'm _in,_" she breathes. "Merlin, I'm _in!"_

"In what? The running for most annoying hair ever?" James mutters, scrubbing at his face as if trying to get rid of imaginary strands in his mouth.

She smacks him lightly, but her eyes are still shining. "No, idiot. I'm in the Harpies!"

Albus, not cursed with his brother's tactlessness, has already figured that out; he grins proudly as Lily shows them the crest at the top of the letter.

"My baby sister, Seeker for the Holyhead Harpies," says James, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye (or maybe some of Lily's hair is in it). His face pales in alarm when she gives him a hard look. "What? You _are_ Seeker, aren't you? Or do you actually have some hidden talent for Beating that we haven't found yet? I guess you'd make a pretty good Chaser –"

"She's Seeker," Albus interrupts, before James can dig himself any deeper into his hole. Then, because Lily is still glaring at James with her hands on her hips and looking disturbingly like their mother, he pulls her into a hug. "I'm proud of you, Lils."

* * *

**7. **Peter's hand lingers on the blood-smeared doorknob for several seconds before he manages to open it. Remus is silent, tilting his head to one side and trying to assess his friend's reaction to whatever is inside. When Peter turns to him with his face a distinct shade of green, he steels his nerves before following the other man into the house.

The entryway to the McKinnon home is deserted, and so for a moment he wonders what could have spooked Peter so much – until he sees the dark stains on the pretty blue-and-white wallpaper. He shudders and his hand moves reflexively to an old scar, stretching from his left shoulder to his right hip.

"Moony." Peter is kneeling beside a door, staring at something in his hand. Remus hurries over to see the splintered remains of a wand, joined by a single red thread.

"Cherry, about eleven inches," he says, eyes wide as he reaches out to touch the wood. "Dragon heartstring. Anna's wand – it was the twins' sixteenth birthday yesterday, that's what Marl said…"

Peter gives a small moan and turns his head. "Moony, look in there."

Remus's breath catches in his throat as he sees what is beyond the door. A large ballroom, elaborately decorated with all the McKinnon wealth, stretches out before them. Above a smashed piano hangs a large banner reading HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOSH AND ANNA!

They step through together. It takes Remus's eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness – neither of them feel comfortable using magic after seeing the Dark Mark over the house; who knows what curses have been put up?

Then he hears Peter scream. Whirling round, he nearly stumbles over his friend before he sees what has happened. The body Peter is bending over has curly blonde hair and blue eyes empty of the laughter that so often lit them in life. Marlene.

Peter is shaking, his scream only growing louder. Remus puts his hand on his shoulder. "Wormtail – Wormtail! We have to carry on!"

Peter shudders, before nodding and turning away. Remus feels the bile rise up as he sees more and more bodies: Marlene's twin siblings Anna and Josh, pale hair splayed out and tears staining their faces; elderly Mr and Mrs McKinnon; a boy who Remus vaguely remembers as being in the twins' year at Hogwarts, perhaps Anna's boyfriend… the list goes on and on.

"Merlin," Peter says, his voice uncharacteristically harsh. "The whole family's dead."

Remus's fists clench. "Marlene was always careful, and she told the family to be too," he says. "There's no way the Death Eaters could have just 'found out' about the party. It's the spy again."

Peter makes a noncommittal noise, bending over the body of a very small girl. Remus's head is spinning, though; suddenly he remembers the shouting match Sirius and Marlene had a few days back. Sirius is fighting with a lot of people at present.

Over the next few weeks, he's so fixated with trying to read guarded grey eyes and remember just _where_ Sirius said he'd be last night, that he doesn't realise there's a little guilt mixed with the horror in Peter's scream.

* * *

**8. **The wind is whipping Arthur's hair into his face and the cold night air makes his eyes water. He's gripping the handle of his broom tightly, focusing on getting to the safe house. That's all that he needs to do – _get to the safe house._

Behind him Fred is shooting curses left and right, his voice panicked but strong, and Arthur wonders when all his boys grew up. He's flying so fast that the stars are blurring into streaks of silver burning the velvet sky, and _they're almost there they're going to make it he'll have Fred out of danger_ –

A hooded figure shoots in front of them, wand arm outstretched, and Arthur's heart almost stops. Then Fred shouts "_Stupefy!"_ from over his shoulder and the Death Eater topples backwards, arms flailing helplessly. Fred sucks in his breath. "Wow," he breathes. "I just –"

They are completely alone for now. Arthur knows that they should hasten on before more Death Eaters catch up with them, but still he takes a moment to twist around. Fred stares at him through Harry's green eyes, shivering slightly – then his mouth opens and he screams.

As if prompted, about five Death Eaters come swerving out of the darkness towards them and Arthur speeds up again. His heart thumps and adrenaline courses through his veins; behind him, he Fred is still fighting fiercely but Arthur can hear him whisper "_No, no, no…" _in between curses.

At last the Death Eaters vanish behind a wall of protective assignments and Arthur lands the broom on the rough grass of the lawn outside their safe house. He turns to pull Fred off, noticing as he does so that his son's eyes are turning brown again and his hair is beginning to lighten.

"What happened?" he demands. "Why did you scream?"

Fred shivers, pressing his hand to one ear. "George," he whispers, and that tells Arthur everything.

* * *

**9. **"HERMIONE! HERMIONE!" Ron bellows, twisting and turning as if he is the one being tortured. Harry paces frantically near him, and in the dim light from the Deluminator his eyes look more than a little mad. Luna watches with an odd sort of detachment. It is much easier to think about the strange device that Ron keeps in his pocket and the other two occupants of the cellar, Dean Thomas and Mr Ollivander, than what is going on upstairs and the fact that Hermione is screaming.

"We found it, we found it – PLEASE!" she cries, and it is so much easier to focus on the pattern that water leakages are making on the ceiling than the agony in Luna's friend's voice.

It is so much easier to remember her round room at home and her bed in Ravenclaw Tower than to think about the fact that Harry is captured and it is over and everything the DA and the Order have been working for is lost.

She has been doing this for months now. When Mr Ollivander is having a bad night, she will tell him stories of Crumple-Horned Snorkacks and the amount she loves her friends. When he is depressed and hopeless she will talk to him about Ginny and Neville and the things they are fighting for at Hogwarts, and her belief that Harry will end this war. It is easier to remember the good times then live in the bad ones.

But after all, when has Luna done things the easy way?

She narrows her eyes and the room comes back into focus. She cannot afford to zone out now. It is clear that Harry and Ron have not given up hope of escape, and she can't either. True, there is not much she can do to help, but there's always something. She walks over to where Dean has sunk down against the wall and touches his shoulder tentatively. He glances up at her, eyes blank and dull, and she smiles at him. Hesitantly, he smiles back, and she tries to tell him what she hopes is true: they will get out of this place.

Above them, Hermione screams.

* * *

**10. **The scream rips through the air around them, heart-wrenching and soul-scarring. Hermione recognises Ron's voice almost straight away, and wonders if it's wrong to give a tiny sob of relief. She reaches out and pushes the rubble of the wall away from her, swaying a little as she stumbles to her feet. A small distance away, Harry is doing the same – she reaches out for his hand and clutches it as they stumble over to the Weasleys.

"No – no – no!" a different voice cries, but Hermione cannot tell whether it is Fred or Percy. She glances towards Harry, who has frozen in his place.

Suddenly she is terrified, scared out of her mind, because although Ron is alive one of his brothers is not. She isn't sure who she wants it to be as she draws Harry closer and closer to the Weasleys, the echo of Ron's terrible scream still ringing in her ears.

"No – no – no!" Percy shouts again. "No! Fred! _NO!"_

Hermione's heart stops and she stares at the corpse on the ground, eyes empty and smile forever frozen, and a couple of tears blur her vision. No. Not Fred – not Fred. He is amazing and brilliant and too _young, _far too young to die.

And he's Hermione's brother, too.

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**A/N: Please tell me what you thought in a review! What was your favourite number? **

**~Butterfly**


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